Come boom or bust, Britons would need housing, food and water, healthcare and military protection.

So why not invest in military equipment maker BAE Systems, drug maker AstraZeneca, utility International Power, or supermarket chain Safeway?

Difficult times

For a while the trend held, and shares in utilities, for instance, proved among the more resistant to last year's stock market slide.

Some of the better share investments

Imperial Tobacco: +6.1%

Associated British Foods: -2.0%

British American Tobacco: -4.1%

United Utilities: -4.8%

MMO2: -8.9%

FTSE 100: -22.9%

Period: 16 May to 16 September

"One of the trends that stood up best was that high-yielding shares performed best," says Paul Kavanagh, director of stockbroking at Killik.

But this summer's slump revealed that even going defensive offered only limited protection.

An investor who split his money in mid-May between BAE, AstraZeneca and Safeway shares would now be sitting on a 33% loss.

International Power, meanwhile, has slid sufficiently to see its shares ejected from the FTSE 100 elite on Friday.

... and some of the worst

British Airways: -47.8%

AstraZeneca: -38.1%

BAe Systems: -33.8%

Anglo American: -34.0%

Safeway: -29.0%

FTSE 100: -22.9%

Period: 16 May to 16 September

"The market has changed," Mr Kavanagh says.

"You can get the right sector, only to find the stock you pick in it blows up in your face.

"It is making our job difficult at the moment, I can tell you."

Fund managers are having to delve further and further into firms' fundamentals to identify those best placed to prosper amid humdrum UK economic growth.

"You have actually had to look down into companies and see which ones are generating safe cash flow, and which ones are seeing a deterioration in their market places," says Steve Russell, equity strategist at HSBC.

Stars in their eyes

Hence a new focus on the star fund managers best able to sort their BATs from their BAEs.